I make up part of the Communications Design team here at LUNAR. My background is mostly in product design, but before joining LUNAR I worked briefly in the ad world.
For me, the intersection of product design and advertising creates an interesting space to work in.
It’s a space filled with building creative relationship tactics. How do you create a reciprocal relationship with product users to engage with the brand and, ultimately, establish a two-way stream of influence?
Hip advertising agencies pride themselves on developing unique marketing efforts to establish connections like these. It’s a matter of getting people to engage with the brand in personal and creative ways with the intent of breaking away from the traditional advertising approach. More like talking with, instead of talking at.
Businesses using social networking platforms like Facebook, Linkedin and twitter, etc. to connect to target markets is, of course, nothing new. Where this gets interesting is how businesses redefine their brand identity in response to commentary and contributions made by social media users. I see this relationship as a tool that holds just as much weight as traditional communication efforts like packaging, print and television advertising.
Last year my wife bought a bike from a fairly new San Francisco based company, Public Bikes. The following month she received an email from them to say thank you and followed it up with a request for a favor. The request was for her participation in a Facebook survey to pick from six new color options for bikes to be released the following season. Kinda cute right? But what if a more useful intention was working under the guise of the color survey? The more important relationship tactic for a fledgling company like Public is to ensure continued engagement with customers who might have bought the bike and moved on, never thinking about public bikes again. It’s like asking for a second date in a personal and creative way.
Public Bikes is encouraging customers to shape their product’s lifestyle image on their Facebook page as well. Users post photos of themselves riding and sharing stories about good times with their bikes. For Facebook users, it’s an effortless introduction to the product experience shared through other people’s stories and pictures of interacting with the product. For Public Bikes – it’s free storytelling.
These emerging media outlets have also become the sounding board for brand loyalists to communicate indirectly with businesses. About six months ago, Gap unveiled a new logo without any explanation other than calling it, “a more contemporary, modern expression.” Large communities of customers were not so thrilled about the new design and took to social media platforms to vet their dissatisfaction.
The backlash against their new (and now defunct) logo was so intense that Gap was baited into a direct conversation with thousands of their customers. On Gap’s Facebook page (that has over 700,000 fans) they released a statement, “Ok. We’ve heard loud and clear that you don’t like the new logo. We’ve learned a lot from the feedback. We only want what’s best for the brand and our customers. So instead of crowd sourcing, we’re bringing back the Blue Box tonight.”
Whether or not Gap intended to build a two-way relationship, they understood that responding to the backlash was a chance to make over 700,000 fans feel like they had driven the design direction.
As communication efforts have shifted to include social media space it’s important for brands to find interesting ways to speak to large audiences, or rather, with audiences.
Btw, you can connect to the LUNAR network by following the links below. We’d love to have a conversation with you, too.
Much thanks for your articles and thoughtful social assessments for rockin’ the Planet!!!!